hankyoreh

Choi Si-joong and Chun Shin-il (frome the left) 　

By Ahn Chang-hyun, staff reporter

With little more than a month left before the end of Lee Myung-bak’s term as president of South Korea, Lee is thinking about offering, in the name of national solidarity, special amnesty to people who are close to him. The public is up in arms over the possibility that among those pardoned could be former lawmaker and older brother of the president Lee Sang-deuk, former chairman of the Korea Communications Commission Choi Si-joong, and Sejoong Namo Tour Chairman Chun Shin-il.

“In the interest of achieving national harmony at the end of Lee’s presidency, we are considering whether to approve numerous requests for special amnesty,” Blue House spokesman Park Jung-ha said on Jan. 9. “Those to be amnestied and the timing involved have yet to be decided. As of yet, anything is possible.”

“Even if we do issue amnesties, we still have to decide what standards and principles we will follow. We are not yet at the stage of deciding which of Lee’s supporters will be pardoned,” Park added.

It is rumored that President Lee is thinking about including members of his inner circle in the amnesties, people such as Lee Sang-deuk, Choi Si-joong and Chun Shin-il.

Lee Sang-deuk was arrested in July 2012 on suspicion of bribery in connection with lobbying of savings banks and is currently being tried on these charges. If the trial ends early next month, both sides forgo an appeal, and a sentence is handed down, his name could be added to the pardon list.

Accused of receiving 800 million won (US$754,000) from groups seeking licenses, Choi Si-joong was detained in April 2012. Though a lower court sentenced him to two years and six months in prison, he waived his appeal to the Supreme Court last month, and his sentence has been upheld.

Chun Shin-il and Shin Jae-min, former Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism also opted not to appeal to the Supreme Court, and their sentences have been upheld as well. Since special amnesty can only be offered after the sentence has been finalized, questions have been raised about whether these people deliberately decided not to appeal in hopes of receiving a pardon at the end of Lee’s presidency.

The office of the secretary for civil affairs at the Blue House has already finished the working-level review of the special amnesty for these figures, one source said. If pardons are granted, they are expected to come just before the Lunar New Year (Feb. 10).

“In the end, this amnesty is an issue for the president to decide,” a senior official at the Blue House said. “However, there is a lot of concern that there will be intense blowback from the public if Lee Sang-deuk is freed.”

There have been special amnesties at the end of previous presidential administrations, but there has never been a wide-ranging amnesty for corrupt relatives and friends of the president. In the case of corruption by sons, brothers, and other relatives of former presidents, pardons have been issued by subsequent administrations, but this would be the first time that a sitting president has offered a direct pardon to a relative convicted of corruption.

Kim Hyeon-cheol, son of former president Kim Young-sam, and Kim Hong-eop, son of former president Kim Dae-jung, were both arrested toward the end of their fathers’ terms in office. Both of them spent two or three years in prision before being pardoned by the next administration. If Lee Sang-deuk is pardoned now, he would have spent no more than seven months behind bars.

“Using pardons to let off friends and family at the end of one’s presidency is more than shameless - it is a deliberate insult to the Korean people,” said Yoon Gwan-seok, floor spokesperson for the Democratic United Party, in criticism of the proposed amnesty.

“If President Lee offers pardons at the end of his administration to friends and relatives who have been convicted of corruption, he risks not only his own reputation, but also the reputation of president-elect Park Geun-hye.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]